Mastering the art of flaky pastry requires cool hands and generous dollops of butter.

A popular new film and a tragic suicide remind the Monitor's language columnist how the power of communications technologies needs to be tempered with humane values.

Like the US, the UK is massively in debt and running huge annual budget deficits. Unlike the US, the UK decided to act, slashing spending programs in a new program of 'austerity.'

AP - Toyota is recalling 1.53 million Lexus, Avalon and other models, mostly in the U.S. and Japan, for brake fluid and fuel pump problems, the latest in a string of quality lapses for the world's No. 1 automaker.

AP - President Barack Obama staunchly defended his health care and stimulus initiatives Thursday but acknowledged he may not have taken enough time to explain the policies to the public.

AP - Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the drop wasn't enough to reverse a big increase the previous week.